"The Lowline Park is not only a beautifully planned public place but also a critical downtown stormwater infrastructure project," city spokesperson Bay Sheehan told The Post and Courier in its September update on the corridor.
In most of the coverage, the Lowline is the walking and biking path under I-26. The city has spent this year treating it as drainage, and that explains two things a peninsula neighbor has probably wondered about. The corridor looked almost exactly the same for most of 2026. And the work that restarts on Oct. 19 will look like earthmoving long before it looks like a park.
A Groundbreaking, Then a Quiet Corridor
The city broke ground last December. Nearly ten months later, The Post and Courier described a path that "doesn't visibly look much closer to completion." Its photographers walked the corridor on Tuesday, Sept. 22. They found construction fencing along the skatepark under the I-26 overpass, pallets of materials in a fenced area, a small path running beneath the interstate and a puddle across part of that path near Romney Street.
People had noticed. At a Sept. 22 meeting, area Councilmember Aaron Polkey said residents on the peninsula had been asking where the project stands.
The city's answer was that the work had been real but out of sight. Sheehan listed what happened after the groundbreaking:
- Design, permitting and construction coordination
- Erosion controls and site protection
- Site preparation and grading
- Upgrades to the Lowline's three associated parking lots
Those lots are the most visible result so far. Earlier Post and Courier reporting placed them on Sheppard Street and Huger Street, with two on either side of Huger. Before the project, the Huger lots were gravel lots used by nearby residents and businesses. In July 2025 committee minutes, the city described the lots as a 120-space, revenue-generating project, with the revenue reserved for Lowline upkeep. The September update said the lots had been upgraded. It did not say whether they are open or what parking will cost.
The Line Item That Explains the Pause
The clearest evidence for the drainage-first reading is the contract record. On Sept. 22, City Council unanimously approved a $2 million update to the construction contract with Edifice Construction LLC. Records cited by The Post and Courier say the city needed the money because the stormwater design had "changed drastically" since preconstruction and design work began in April 2025.
This was not the first adjustment. The Sept. 22 change was the fifth update to the Edifice contract, which now totals more than $10.3 million. The change order also says the overall Lowline is expected to cost upwards of $20 million and to take longer than first planned.
So the slow year happened because the part of the project that sits below the path was redrawn. Path surfaces and plantings are easy to change late in a project. The grades and structures that move water are much harder to change, so they get settled first.
What the Ground Was Always Meant to Do
Friends of the Lowline has pursued this corridor since 2012, with a stated goal of turning the compacted former rail bed into green infrastructure that absorbs water and works as public space. The group says on its About page that the corridor's green space and natural drainage are engineered to hold and move water that the peninsula's aging streets cannot manage alone.
The group's December 2020 conceptual plan showed what that could look like. It proposed capturing runoff from I-26 and tying into the King/Huger drainage project and Newmarket Creek. It called for rain gardens and permeable paving in the denser stretches, and for bioretention areas, bioswales and filter strips where the North Central section has more room. That plan shows the original intent. The city has since said the stormwater design changed drastically, so the 2020 plan does not describe what crews will actually build this fall.
The city is also paying for the corridor in an unusual way. Friends is raising private money to supplement funds from the city's Cooper River Bridge TIF district. The parking revenue is reserved for upkeep. The same strip of land is being financed as a park, as drainage and as a parking operation.
What Oct. 19 Will Look Like From the Sidewalk
Crews remobilize on Oct. 19. The 1.6-mile stretch from Mount Pleasant Street to Line Street is entering what the city calls the major earthworks phase. Sheehan said this is when the public will start seeing "a much more obvious physical transformation of the corridor." Earthworks means grading and moving soil. That is the drainage layer taking shape, and the finished path comes after it.
The finished section is planned to have dedicated walking and biking paths separated by planted medians, along with improved lighting and safer street crossings. On the Mount Pleasant-to-Line route, the three main east-west crossings are Huger, Romney and Cypress streets. In July 2025, Live 5 News reported that city staff planned controlled pedestrian and cyclist crossings and slower vehicle speeds at those three intersections. That report came before this year's redesign, so the final crossing details are still to be confirmed.
Friends describes the finished corridor as a car-free route from North Central to Radcliffeborough. It also names East Central, Cannonborough-Elliotborough and the East and West sides among the neighborhoods it will link. The Post and Courier's September update does not describe street closures or detours for the work starting Oct. 19, and it does not say whether the skatepark under I-26 will stay open.
The Calendar, Revised
The redesign also changed the schedule. The first phase had been expected to reach substantial completion in February. That target is now August 2027.
| Milestone | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Council approves $2 million change order | Sept. 22, 2026 | The Post and Courier |
| Earthworks remobilize, Mount Pleasant to Line streets | Oct. 19, 2026 | The Post and Courier |
| Detailed update to Traffic and Transportation Committee | Oct. 27, 2026 | Mayor William Cogswell, via The Post and Courier |
| Phase 1 substantial completion, revised from February | August 2027 | Change order |
| Path opens between Sheppard and Mount Pleasant streets | Early 2028 | City spokesperson Bay Sheehan |
| Bradford Park phase could be complete | Summer 2028 | City spokesperson Bay Sheehan |
There is a gap of several months between substantial completion and the public opening. That fits the drainage-first reading. Contractors can finish the earthworks in 2027 and still not hand people a finished park until 2028. Friends' Phase 1 page still says the project is on track to open in summer 2027. The early-2028 date from the city's September update is the newer figure.
Bradford Park, the Part Built for Staying
Most of the Lowline is designed to be passed through. Bradford Park, at the southern end of Phase 1 where the corridor widens, is planned as the first place along it "built specifically for people to gather, not just pass through," with open lawn and shade. It is named for Tom Bradford, the founding board chair of Friends of the Lowline, who first imagined what the corridor could become.
Private money is paying for the park. On its Bradford Park page, Friends says the Speedwell Foundation has committed $2.5 million to match the first $2.5 million the group raises, which would unlock $5 million in total. The same page says Friends has raised $900,000 so far, that Speedwell has released an initial $1 million in good faith, and that $1.6 million of the match remains available. Other pages on the Friends site give different totals, so the Bradford Park page figures are best read as that page's snapshot. Matched gifts are directed to Phase 1 of Bradford Park. The organization is led by board chair Frank Haygood and executive director Courtney Olson.
The order of work holds here as well. The city's contract, now redrawn, pays for the drainage and the path. The lawn people will actually spend time on depends on the private campaign and comes last.
Oct. 27, the Next Public Look
The first detailed account of the revised plan comes on Oct. 27, when Mayor Cogswell said the city will present a fuller update to the Traffic and Transportation Committee. That meeting will likely be the first chance to hear about the block-by-block sequence, the crossing designs at Huger, Romney and Cypress, and any changes to access along the corridor. The September coverage did not include those details. The city keeps its project materials on its Lowline project page.
When the Lowline does open, homes in the blocks between Line Street and Mount Pleasant Street will sit next to finished public ground that is still under construction today. Robertson Allen follows projects like this closely, because buyers and longtime owners on the upper peninsula will feel the change. To talk through what the Lowline schedule means for a property near the corridor, schedule a private market consultation.
